There was so much going on this week that only a fraction of the happenings made it into blog posts. So, let’s play catch up…

Monday was the monthly meeting of the Mesa County Democratic Executive Committee. Because of a glitch in moving our E-mail provider from one program to another, notices went out late, and barely a quorum showed up. These meetings are open to all membership, although only members of the executive committee are allowed to vote on matters. Check out the newly redesigned Mesa DEMS homepage, and see what is coming up. We usually have a lot of fun when we get together.

Link to DEMS website

Thursday a group of people visited Scott Tipton’s office to ask him to reconsider his vote to support subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Several of us stood around in the rain holding signs for the press, then went up to Tipton’s office, where we met with one member of his staff while the second member hid in the men’s room. For me the most amusing part was when the staffer tried to tell us that Scott Tipton was not a typical politician because he even has the Republican leadership pissed at him. Then he asked if we had looked at his voting record, pointing out that Tipton voted against the continuing resolution. Clearly the staffer is used to arguing with members of the Tea Party because every one of us said we had looked at Tipton’s voting record. I’m afraid I was a bit unladylike when I said that he votes like an idiot.

Page A4 of Free Press Has Picture of Protesters

I'll Never Understand Republican Thinking

Democratic Petition Asking to End Big Oil Subsidies

Thursday Evening there was a State of the River Presentation at City Hall.  This presentation is now viewing at various times at Channel 12. The first speaker was Erik Knight of the Bureau of Reclamation, who told us that Colorado River snowpack is at 193% of average. Somewhat unusual this year was continued accumulation into April and May because of cool temperatures and spring storms. This is a good news bad news story. The good news is that water will be replaced in down river storage dams, like Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The bad news is that there will be flooding along the Colorado River when weather warms and the snow begins melting.

Then people who have been working on the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement Proposal discussed the proposal, and the steps needed for approval. This is a proposal that has already been in the discussion stage for at least six years, so it is a really big deal—a favorite phrase of Dick Proctor, Mesa County’s outgoing representative—to be replaced by Steve Acquafresca.

 Eric Kuhn, who has 30 years of experience watching the Colorado River then spoke, reminding us that 80% of Colorado’s water is on the western slope, while 80% of the population is on the front range. The first trans mountain diversion, back in 1871, was to quench the thirst of a growing front range population, before Colorado even became a state. The Western Slope interests in this proposed agreement included:

·         Streamflow protection and restoration (more water in streams in Grand and Summit Counties);

·         Water for future consumptive use;

·         Preserve Shoshone flow regimes (ensures water delivery downstream even if the power plant is not running);

·         Front Range conservation and reuse of water;

·         Clarity about Denver’s water service area;

·         Limits on future water projects without cooperation of all signatories to the agreement.

Jim Lockhead then spoke about the role played by Denver water in the proposed Agreement, followed by Mark Hermundstad a local water attorney discussing some of the still unresolved language and points. The final speaker was Dick Proctor, who kept reminding us it was a really big deal.

Then at the regular meeting of Friday morning bagel munchers, Glenn Miller, a geologist gave a formal presentation of the challenges and opportunities of oil shale.  He brought guests who had managed previous oil shale prototype projects on “Tract CA” and “Tract CB” in the Piceance Basin.  Short version:

·         the Piceance Basin contains more oil shale than all of Saudi Arabia in approximately 1,000 square miles running north of Parachute, Southwest of Meker and Southeast of Rangely.

·         Currently there are R & D leases that are looking for commercially feasible ways to produce the oil from the shale.

·         Upside is huge. There is as much as 2.5 million to 3 million barles of oil under each acre. In the Mahogany Zone, the average resource is ¾ barrel of oil for each ton of shale. A tone of shale is approximately 3’ X 3’ X 3’. There are 100 Prudo Bays worth of oil in the Piceance Basin.

·         Limitations include water which is governed by the Colorado River Compact, which has been in place since the 1920’s, and not in Colorado’s best interest to renegotiate. The water is needed primarily to cool the shale after it has been treated.

·         There is a “popcorn” factor. When shale is broken into tiny pieces, it takes more space than it otherwise does.

·         Spent shale has environmental problems, mostly related to leaching chemicals into the soil and/or water supply.

·         Current demonstration projects are only concerned with extracting oil, but other products, including aluminum and rare earths are also present. Miller’s opinion is that no shale should be developed until the process recovers all valuable resources contained in the deposits. The only proven methodology to do that is strip mining, which has the potential of delivering huge quantities of cement into the market place also.

No homework today. Enjoy the rest of the week-end. I plan to spend it in my garden with my dog.

The headline in a story in the New York Times this morning caught my attention. The headline was, “'Anti-Environmental' House Freshman Leads Charge Against Obama's Clean Water Agenda.” What’s wrong with this picture? We are told that someone is fighting against clean water and that’s a good thing? And what about clean water makes it “Obama’s Agenda” instead of America’s agenda? To be fair, the story isn’t really about not liking clean water, it is about an Ohio Representative who is a former hog farmer. This former farmer’s agenda is against regulations, not against clean water. But the net result of his actions will be that there is less clean water in the world. What is especially surprising is that Ohio is the site of the famous burning river of the late 1960’s that started the modern environmental movement. The planet is running out of fresh water. At what point do we, as a nation, decide that protecting the health of our eco-system, including the rivers that supply fresh water, is more important than the short term profits of industry? This anti-regulation mood, including the impulse to defund the EPA, is all about protecting profits. I’m sick to death of profits having priority over people. Do we really want to return to the days of burning rivers, not to mention water faucets that can be ignited? Back in 2009, a think tank in California coined a new term, “peak ecological water.” The idea is that there will be a point where there is insufficient clean water to sustain life on the planet. Right now humans use about ½ of the fresh water on the planet without realizing what their “water footprint” looks like. Industrial and agricultural usage is increasing, if for no other reason than the population of the planet is increasing. If that used water is returned to the eco-system loaded with pollutants, like chemicals from fertilizers, the result is less fresh water available—or more expensive fresh water as it becomes more expensive to remove the pollutants from the water. Even people who are concerned with peace on earth are concerned that future fresh water shortages will result in war. Today’s wars are about oil, tomorrow’s wars will be about water. Given that scenario, is it reasonable to continue to defund the one organization that is trying to keep water clean in America? Is it reasonable to put the profits of industry above the health of the planet and everyone and everything that lives on it? Homework:

New York Times Report About Freshman Lawmaker

The Planet Is Running Out of Water

The old saying is that April showers bring May flowers, but rain is rare in our high desert climate. The pounding rain that we enjoyed overnight has made me all optimistic about things that grow. I’ve been chomping at the bit, wanting to get my hands dirty in the garden, but keep looking at the swan on the Grand Mesa, and note that its neck is not yet broken. The planting of annuals and things like tomatoes and chilies will have to wait for another few weeks. In the meanwhile, it looks like we are about to have a bumper crop of lilacs.

Water is essential to all things living, which is why a celebration is in order when we see rain falling in our valley. It is also why it would be better if Western Colorado remained essentially intact as redistricting progresses through the legislative process. The front range needs to occasionally hear that there are living things that need water out here in the wild and wooly west—everything from grapes that are responsible for the growing wine industry in Colorado, to the sweet and juicy peaches that drip nectar down our collective chin come September, to the 150,000 (give or take a few thousand) of us living in Mesa County.

Club 20 was originally founded to make sure that Western Slope water was protected from the water grabbing Front Range. It is still on the job, monitoring legislation that impacts the surrounding national forests and the availability of usable water on the Western Slope. Likewise, the Western Colorado Congress was established to make sure that industry used best practices in development for everything from bedroom communities to oil and gas exploration to vehicle access to roadless areas in national forests. The ideas for both organizations, although often politically in opposite camps, stem from wanting to make sure that the Western Slope is heard when it comes to our water.

Putting things into perspective, it is useful in a crisis to be reminded that 10 years from now nobody will remember the agony of this moment. It is an especially useful reminder when redistricting and gerrymandering are the topics, because in 10 years, literally, the problem will be different. But right now, as fascinating as I think it would be to watch Jared Polis interact with people from Grand Junction, lumping this small city into the liberal capital of Colorado doesn’t make a lot of sense. We just don’t have all that much in common, and we still have water to protect.

Homework
Club 20

Western Colorado Congress

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Water in Western Colorado

Every time that oil shale production comes up in Colorado, the question is asked if there is enough water in Colorado to go around. The industry says, no problem, we have all the water we need or will ever need. The environmentalists warn that the industry is quietly buying up water rights and the net effect will be that there won’t be enough water to support recreation, agriculture, suburban lawns, and the oil and gas industry if the approved usage changes. And that’s before they start warning about fracking fluids polluting the water supply.

Now all these warnings are playing themselves out in real time in North Dakota. The Baakan Formation has been in the middle of a boom, to the extent that North Dakota is about the only state in the nation not facing huge budget problems this year. All that may be about to change.

The industry has requested permission to tap the water of the Missouri River in order to get about 2,000 natural gas wells into production this year.  They need the water because they can’t frack wells without lots and lots of water. Today the industry has access to 7-million gallons of fresh water daily.  The industry wants 28-million gallons a day and they want to tap into a lake on the Missouri River to get it.

The Army Corps of Engineers wants the industry to pay for using that water. This is a new trick for the Corps—and the idea of charging for the water is in the middle of a public review process.

The irony of the whole situation is that the industry needs water, wants fresh water, and yet produced 180 million barrels of water last year, some of it contaminated with fracking fluids, some of it salty from the ancient days of being sea water. While the industry says they could desalinate and/or purify the produced water, they say it would cost too much to do so. So, instead, they are creating one new well each week for the express purpose of injecting waste water back into the earth. What they are injecting is water that can’t be used for any purpose because it is so polluted. It starts out fresh, gets polluted and then gets injected into the earth. Am I the only person on this planet that thinks this is insanity?

Homework

Story About Water in ND